The invention relates to improvements in apparatus for manipulating containers, for example, for manipulating so-called chargers or trays which are utilized for temporary storage of rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry.
Rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry which can be treated in the apparatus of the present invention include filter rod sections, filter cigarettes, filter cigars, filter cigarillos and others, especially rod-shaped articles which do not consist of mirror symmetrical halves. For example, a filter cigarette has a filter mouthpiece or filter plug at one end, a filter rod can carry an imprint closer to one end than to the other, a filter cigar comprises a mouthpiece or filter at one end, and the same holds true for filter cigarillos. The following description of the state of prior art and of the invention will deal primarily with the manipulation of containers for temporary confinement of filter cigarettes; however, it is to be understood that the improved apparatus can be employed with equal advantage for manipulation of containers which are used for temporary storage of many other types of rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry.
It is well known to employ a so-called container-filling unit which is adjacent the path of a mass flow of filter cigarettes advancing from a filter tipping machine to a packing machine or another processing or consuming machine. The filling unit transfers the surplus of filter cigarettes from the mass flow into a series of empty containers of the type known as chargers or trays when the output of one or more producing machines (e.g., filter tipping machines) exceeds the requirements of the consuming or processing machine or machines (e.g., packing machines). Filled containers are stored, and their contents are returned into the mass flow when the requirements of the consuming or processing machine or machines exceed the output of the making machine or machines. The means for returning filter cigarettes from filled containers into the mass flow comprises a so-called container-evacuating unit, for example, a unit which can dump the contents of filled containers into a duct or another receptacle whence the filter cigarettes are admitted into the mass flow or are used to form a mass flow if the producing machine or machines are at a standstill.
It is further known to temporarily store filter rod sections which are to be converted into filter mouthpieces or filter plugs. Temporary storage is often desirable or necessary in order to ensure that certain substances (e.g., triacetin) which are used to partially bond the filaments of a filter rod section to each other are adequately cured before the filter rod sections are subdivided into filter mouthpieces or filter plugs which are ready for attachment to plain cigarettes in a filter tipping machine.
The container-filling unit is normally combined or associated with a magazine for storage of empty containers and with a magazine for storage of filled containers, and such magazines are or can be disposed at different levels. Analogously, the container-evacuating unit is or can be combined or associated with a magazine for empty containers and with a magazine for filled containers, and the these two magazines are or can be located at different levels. Still further, an apparatus which employs a container-filling unit and a container-emptying or evacuating unit comprises a device which transports emptied containers from the corresponding magazine for the container-emptying unit to the other magazine for empty containers, i.e., to that magazine from which empty containers are drawn to be filled with filter cigarettes by the container-filling unit.
Direct coupling of one or more producing machines with one or more consuming or processing machines for filter cigarettes continues to gain popularity in the tobacco processing industry. However, and since it is not always possible to operate each producing machine and/or each consuming or processing machine at full or normal speed, it is necessary to provide apparatus for temporary storage of surplus filter cigarettes when one or more consuming or processing machines are idle or operate at less than maximum speed, and for delivery of filter cigarettes from storage to the consuming machine or machines when the requirements of such machines exceed the output of the producing machine or machines. Containers for temporary storage of the surplus of filter cigarettes are circulated along an endless path, namely from the empty-container magazine which is associated with the container-filling unit, through the filling unit and into the magazine for storage of filled containers coming from the filling unit, from the magazine for storage of filled containers coming from the filling unit to the magazine which serves to store filled containers prior to emptying in the container-emptying unit, to the emptying unit, to the magazine which receives containers from the emptying unit, and from the last named magazine to the magazine which is associated with the filling unit and serves to store empty containers.
As a rule, the container-emptying unit includes a device which dumps the contents of successive filled containers in such a way that the orientation of filter cigarettes is changed by 180.degree.. Therefore, it is necessary to change the orientation of dumped filter cigarettes before they reenter the mass flow on their way from the maker or makers to the consuming or processing machine or machines. This can be accomplished by changing the orientation of filled containers prior to the dumping step so that the change of orientation which is caused as a result of dumping the contents of filled containers results in renewed reorientation of filter cigarettes, namely in renewed reorientation which ensures that the dumped articles are ready for reintroduction into the mass flow in such a way that their orientation matches that of articles which advance directly from the maker or makers to the consuming or processing machine or machines. Freshly emptied containers are reoriented prior to returning into the corresponding magazine for the container-filling unit or not later than at the time of entering the filling unit.